The Conewago Mountains or Conewago Hills are a low range of

mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

s in northern

York County, Pennsylvania York County ( Pennsylvania Dutch: Yarrick Kaundi) is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 456,438. Its county seat is York. The county was created on August 19, 1749, from part of Lancaster ...

. They run northeasterly across the county. They form the backdrop to

Gifford Pinchot State Park Gifford Pinchot State Park is a Pennsylvania state park in northern York County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It was named in honor of noted conservationist and former Pennsylvania Governor Gifford Pinchot. The fourth chief of the Unite ...

and parallel Conewago Creek. The Conewago Mountains played a role in the early colonization and settling of the region, with settlers north of the mountains being predominantly Scotch-Irish and those south of the range being mostly

Germans , native_name_lang = de , region1 = , pop1 = 72,650,269 , region2 = , pop2 = 534,000 , region3 = , pop3 = 157,000 3,322,405 , region4 = , pop4 = ...

from the Palatinate region. The mountains provided a source of timber and firewood, and small iron foundries dotted the valley below to smelt iron ore taken from the Conewagos. During the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

Confederate Confederacy or confederate may refer to: States or communities * Confederate state or confederation, a union of sovereign groups or communities * Confederate States of America, a confederation of secessionist American states that existed between 1 ...

cavalry under

J.E.B. Stuart James Ewell Brown "Jeb" Stuart (February 6, 1833May 12, 1864) was a United States Army officer from Virginia who became a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War. He was known to his friends as "Jeb,” from the initials of ...

crossed over the mountains at the hamlet of Mount Royal in Dover Township en route from the

Battle of Hanover The Battle of Hanover took place on June 30, 1863, in Hanover in southwestern York County, Pennsylvania, as part of the Gettysburg Campaign of the American Civil War. Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's Confederate cavalry, which was riding north to get ...

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

. Scores of farms in the region were raided for horses, and many farmers hid their livestock in the Conewago Mountains to secret them from the passing Confederates. Today, the mountains offer scenic views of York County and several fine homes and studios dot the hillsides.

Geology

The Conewago Mountains are underlain by

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

conglomerate Conglomerate or conglomeration may refer to: * Conglomerate (company) * Conglomerate (geology) * Conglomerate (mathematics) In popular culture: * The Conglomerate (American group), a production crew and musical group founded by Busta Rhymes ** Co ...

of the

Gettysburg Formation The Gettysburg Formation is a mapped bedrock unit consisting primarily of sandstones, conglomerates, and shales. The Gettysburg Formation was first described in the Gettysburg area of Adams County, Pennsylvania in 1929, and over the following dec ...

.Map 61: ''Atlas of Preliminary Geologic Quadrangle Maps of Pennsylvania, Compiled and edited by Thomas M. Berg and Christine M. Dodge'', 198
Dover Quadrangle
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References

{{coord, 40.04670, -76.85794, type:landmark_globe:earth_region:US-PA, display=title Mountain ranges of Pennsylvania Landforms of York County, Pennsylvania